Recently, some dance performances do not disclose the specific list of performers for each performance during ticket sales, allowing the audience to "open the blind box". And most viewers who come specifically for a certain actor will be disappointed and leave. In fact, dance drama performances cannot rely solely on one or two popular plays and a few well-known dancers to maintain the market. The theater troupe continues to improve the quality of performances, promote positive interaction between audiences and performers, and provide more growth opportunities for young talents in order to achieve healthy and sustainable development of the dance drama market. The spring scenery is brilliant, and the dance drama performance market in Beijing is booming again. Popular dance dramas such as "The Journey of a Legendary Landscape Painting" and "A Dream of Red Mansions" are staged brilliantly. At the same time as the performance tickets were sold out, the dance drama "blind card" once again attracted attention. Blind card "is a proprietary term popular among dance drama audiences, referring to the method of ticket sales that does not disclose the corresponding actors for each performance. The audience can only know the list of actors on the spot after the performance starts, and the viewing experience is comparable to opening a blind box. Why do "blind cards" rarely appear in the opera and drama market, but have almost become a "rule" in the dance drama market? In the past, dance, especially classical Chinese dance, had long been relatively marginalized in various categories of stage art. In literary evenings, dance usually appears in the form of group dances or singing programs called "activity background boards", lacking independent display of the works. Although there are also classic dance dramas such as "Silk Road Flower Rain," "Princess Wencheng," and "Bronze Sparrow Opera," both the number of performances and audience numbers are far lower than those of contemporary dramas, operas, and other genres. Therefore, dance performances usually do not disclose the list of actors to the audience. But in the past decade or so, with the emergence of highly acclaimed works such as the dance dramas "Confucius" and "The Crested Ibis", and planned tours throughout the country and even the world, the dance drama market has gradually become hot. In 2019, the broadcast of the variety show "Dance Storm" greatly increased the exposure and popularity of dancers, allowing a group of outstanding dancers who were originally only well-known in the industry to enter the public eye and be highly sought after. With the continuous improvement of dance drama audiences' understanding and aesthetic level of dance, they have become more "picky", not only choosing the repertoire, but also the actors. However, the various theater groups have not changed their ticket sales models in response to changes in market demand. Instead, some theater groups that had previously announced their actor lists in advance have quietly switched to a "blind box" style ticket sales method. Why did this situation occur? Behind it is still driven by economic interests. In recent years, the dance drama market has been heating up, and the market appeal of well-known dancers has been increasing. If the list of actors for all performances is announced before ticket sales, it often leads to popular sales for well-known dancers' performances, while other dancers' performances are neglected. The 'blind box' ticket sales utilize the audience's desire to see famous dancers, spreading traffic indiscriminately to all performances, effectively avoiding the situation of 'one-sided' box office performance. The loss of 'disappointed expectations' is borne by the audience themselves. Some viewers even buy up all the performances of well-known dancers in order to win them, which further increases the box office. Therefore, in order to ensure maximum box office revenue, many theater groups have "tacitly" chosen the "blind box" style of ticket sales. This approach can quickly generate economic benefits for the theater troupe in the short term, but in the long run, it consumes the enthusiasm and trust of the audience, which not only damages the audience's right to know as consumers, but also hinders the healthy development of the dance drama market. It should be recognized that the audience's dissatisfaction with the "blind card" ticketing method is actually a dissatisfaction with the significant differences in performance quality among different actors. Watching theatrical performances is essentially a cultural consumption, performance services are products, and performance quality is the key for audiences to decide whether to buy tickets. Therefore, the theater troupe needs to start by improving the quality of actors' performances, narrowing the gap between different actors, ensuring that the troupe openly announces the performance lineup, and the audience's enthusiasm for watching the performance will not decrease. Firstly, it is necessary to build a well-balanced leading cast team to give confidence in announcing the performance lineup. The theater troupe should invest more energy in casting and rehearsals to ensure that different actors playing the same role can have equally outstanding performances and personal style interpretations. In October 2024, the Russian ballet carrier Mariinsky Theatre Ballet came to China for a performance. Prior to their Shanghai stop, they announced three sets of actors, including six chief performers. Although one set had a superstar while the other two did not, the attendance rates for all three performances were over 90%. Many viewers watched three shows in a row to experience the different artistic interpretations of different actors. A strong cast not only avoids box office losses due to the announcement of the performance lineup, but also achieves better box office results as a result. Secondly, it is important to have sufficient backup talents and not panic even in the event of temporary changes in actors. In fact, during stage performances, it is common for actors to be temporarily unable to participate due to personal reasons or illness. Adhering to the principle of being responsible to the audience, the handling of temporarily changing actors or refunding tickets is also accepted by the audience. In September 2023, the Shanghai Peking Opera Theatre released a notice of actor replacement, stating that the original lead actor of the planned National Day performance "Yang Men Female Generals" could not perform on stage due to health reasons. Wang Yan, the head of the Tianjin Peking Opera Theatre Experimental Troupe, was specially invited to save the stage. As soon as the news came out, fans of the drama spread the news in WeChat groups. The audience not only did not refund tickets, but also formed a wave of ticket buying frenzy. This fully demonstrates that if the temporarily replaced actors have the same or higher artistic level as the original planned actors, then as a theater troupe, there is no need to worry about the risk of ticket refunds arising from this. Finally, a suitable platform should be provided to allow young actors to shine. Some people believe that the so-called "blind box opening" is to "give young actors the opportunity to grow". But the audience did not accept it, they said that they felt like a "scapegoat" for spending the ticket price of a well-known dancer to see a young actor who "needs to grow". The development of dance drama cannot be separated from the cultivation of young actors. Although young actors need stage experience to improve, it is not only through not informing the audience of the performance lineup beforehand that they can provide a stage. In traditional Chinese opera, there are many performances in the "Youth" and "Inheritance" series, with young actors as the main actors and relatively affordable ticket prices. This not only provides a stage for young actors to showcase and experience, but also allows more audiences to appreciate the charm of opera, which is a win-win solution. Dance drama performances cannot rely solely on one or two popular plays and a few well-known dancers to maintain the market, nor can they blindly pursue box office data and arbitrarily consume audience expectations, ignoring audience needs. Satisfying the audience's demand for a public performance lineup during ticket sales does not mean that the theater troupe should give up economic benefits, but rather urging them to continuously improve the quality of their performances, making every actor excellent and every performance strive for excellence. A fair viewing relationship and a healthy talent cultivation model are necessary to achieve the healthy and sustainable development of the dance drama market. (New Society)